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Articles 1 - 12 of 12

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Ecological Calendars, Food Sovereignty, And Climate Adaptation In Standing Rock, Morgan L. Ruelle, Aubrey Joshua Skye, Evan Collins, Karim-Aly S. Kassam Dec 2022

Ecological Calendars, Food Sovereignty, And Climate Adaptation In Standing Rock, Morgan L. Ruelle, Aubrey Joshua Skye, Evan Collins, Karim-Aly S. Kassam

Sustainability and Social Justice

Indigenous food sovereignty relies on ecological knowledge of plants and animals, including knowledge related to their development and behavior through the seasons. In the context of anthropogenic climate change, ecological calendars based on Indigenous knowledge may enable communities to anticipate seasonal phenomena. We conducted research with communities in the Standing Rock Nation (North and South Dakota, USA) to develop ecological calendars based on their ecological knowledge. We present ecological calendars developed in seven communities through a series of workshops and interviews. These calendars are rich with knowledge about temporal relations within each community's ecosystem, including the use of plants and …


Characterization Of Municipal Water Sources For The Mexico-Lerma-Cutzamala Basin Region, Ian F. Hirons Aug 2022

Characterization Of Municipal Water Sources For The Mexico-Lerma-Cutzamala Basin Region, Ian F. Hirons

Sustainability and Social Justice

The Mexico and Toluca Valleys in central Mexico are part of one of the most heavily populated megalopolises in the western hemisphere where consistent access to safe, affordable, and quality water sources figures to be a decisive challenge in the era of climate change. This professional project report compiles a range of statistics and information about the vital liquid for 29 municipalities located in and around the Mexico City and Toluca areas. This contribution is derived from a broader team research endeavor that seeks to gauge the impacts and adaptive processes to climate change within those regions. By doing so, …


The Belt And Road Initiative Policy: How Chinese Policy Influences Southeast Asia And South Asia, Chendong Wang Aug 2022

The Belt And Road Initiative Policy: How Chinese Policy Influences Southeast Asia And South Asia, Chendong Wang

Sustainability and Social Justice

This article would be divided into two main parts. In the first part, this article introduces what is the BRI policy and the history of the BRI policy. The BRI policy is a Chinese strategy and network to connect with Chinese partners and potential partners through economic, political, and cultural three perspectives. In the second part, this article describes the BRI policy development and the response from Chinese neighboring countries which mainly include the Southeast and South Asian Countries. Southeast Asian nations and south Asian nations would first be directly impacted by politics, the economy, and culture. Southeast Asian countries …


Social Perception Of Systemic Risks, Pia Johanna Schweizer, Robert Goble, Ortwin Renn Jul 2022

Social Perception Of Systemic Risks, Pia Johanna Schweizer, Robert Goble, Ortwin Renn

Sustainability and Social Justice

The article distinguishes between two types of risks: conventional and systemic risks. Conventional risks can be contained in space and time, follow linear cause–effect relationships and can be addressed with effective and pointed interventions into the cause–effect chain. Systemic risks, however, are characterized by high complexity, transboundary effects, stochastic relationships, nonlinear cause–effect patterns with tipping points, and are often associated with less public attention than they require. The article addresses the reasons why systemic risks seem to be attenuated in public perception. The article goes on to consider how the social amplification of risk framework is useful in the context …


Vaccines And The Social Amplification Of Risk, Heidi Larson, Leesa Lin, Rob Goble Jul 2022

Vaccines And The Social Amplification Of Risk, Heidi Larson, Leesa Lin, Rob Goble

Sustainability and Social Justice

In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) named “Vaccine Hesitancy” one of the top 10 threats to global health. Shortly afterward, the COVID-19 pandemic emerged as the world's predominant health concern. COVID-19 vaccines of several types have been developed, tested, and partially deployed with remarkable speed; vaccines are now the primary control measure and hope for a return to normalcy. However, hesitancy concerning these vaccines, along with resistance to masking and other control measures, remains a substantial obstacle. The previous waves of vaccine hesitancy that led to the WHO threat designation, together with recent COVID-19 experience, provide a window for …


Narrating Agricultural Resilience After Hurricane María: How Smallholder Farmers In Puerto Rico Leverage Self-Sufficiency And Collaborative Agency In A Climate-Vulnerable Food System, Abrania Marrero, Andrea Lόpez-Cepero, Ramón Borges-Méndez, Josiemer Mattei Jun 2022

Narrating Agricultural Resilience After Hurricane María: How Smallholder Farmers In Puerto Rico Leverage Self-Sufficiency And Collaborative Agency In A Climate-Vulnerable Food System, Abrania Marrero, Andrea Lόpez-Cepero, Ramón Borges-Méndez, Josiemer Mattei

Sustainability and Social Justice

Climate change is a threat to food system stability, with small islands particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events. In Puerto Rico, a diminished agricultural sector and resulting food import dependence have been implicated in reduced diet quality, rural impoverishment, and periodic food insecurity during natural disasters. In contrast, smallholder farmers in Puerto Rico serve as cultural emblems of self-sufficient food production, providing fresh foods to local communities in an informal economy and leveraging traditional knowledge systems to manage varying ecological and climatic constraints. The current mixed methods study sought to document this expertise and employed a questionnaire and narrative interviewing …


Is Health Literacy A Defined Risk Factor? A Literature Review Of Health Literacy As It Relates To Immigrant Populations In The U.S., Kelly Zdanuczyk May 2022

Is Health Literacy A Defined Risk Factor? A Literature Review Of Health Literacy As It Relates To Immigrant Populations In The U.S., Kelly Zdanuczyk

Sustainability and Social Justice

Throughout its lifespan the definition of health literacy in the United States has been ambiguous and disagreeable. This discrepancy has created disparity among health outcomes for vulnerable populations who are classified with lower degrees of health literacy and thus have a harder time interacting with the healthcare system. This paper will review published peer-reviewed literature on the topic of health literacy as it relates to immigrant populations in the United States and explore the ways in which low health literacy results in negative health outcomes. The literature review finds the discrepancies among health literacy, as it pertains to immigrant communities …


Multiple Metals In Children’S Deciduous Teeth: Results From A Community-Initiated Pilot Study, Alexa Friedman, Julia Anglen Bauer, Christine Austin, Timothy Downs, Yorghos Tripodis, Wendy Heiger-Bernays, Roberta White, Manish Arora, Birgit Claus Henn May 2022

Multiple Metals In Children’S Deciduous Teeth: Results From A Community-Initiated Pilot Study, Alexa Friedman, Julia Anglen Bauer, Christine Austin, Timothy Downs, Yorghos Tripodis, Wendy Heiger-Bernays, Roberta White, Manish Arora, Birgit Claus Henn

Sustainability and Social Justice

Background: Characterizing retrospective exposure to toxicants during multiple early-life developmental periods is challenging, yet critical for understanding developmental effects. Objective: To characterize early-life metal exposure using deciduous teeth in a community concerned about past exposures. Methods: Naturally shed teeth were collected from 30 children ages 5–13 years who resided in Holliston, Massachusetts since conception. We estimated weekly prenatal and postnatal (up to 1 year of age) exposure to 12 metals by measuring dentine concentrations using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Multivariable linear mixed models were used to explore sociodemographic, dietary, and behavioral correlates of dentine metal concentrations. Results: Temporal trends …


Taking The Bull By The Horns: Gender Analysis In A Cattle Project In Indonesia, Febrina Prameswari Apr 2022

Taking The Bull By The Horns: Gender Analysis In A Cattle Project In Indonesia, Febrina Prameswari

Sustainability and Social Justice

Women play a crucial role in agriculture, especially in cattle farming. However, gender inequality in livestock production remains a critical issue, as women usually have less engagement with livestock production, less control over finances, and less access to markets. The IndoBeef program in Indonesia was one of the first livestock projects to incorporate gender-specific activities in its implementation. The project used women-only focus groups, utilizing the Women’s Empowerment in Livestock Index (WELI) combined with farm production data to address women’s needs in the cattle industry. I conducted a gender analysis of one of IndoBeef’s subsidiary projects, CropCow. The project did …


Showing Up “More As My True Self”: Gender And Mushing In The United States, Cynthia Caron, Victoria Beyer Feb 2022

Showing Up “More As My True Self”: Gender And Mushing In The United States, Cynthia Caron, Victoria Beyer

Sustainability and Social Justice

Mushing exists in several forms: short and long-distance races, adventure tourism, recreation, and sport. While some scholars assert that gender does not influence a musher’s experience, this research, based on interviews with mushers, broadens understanding of how gender influences mushing and a musher’s sense of self. Nearly all research participants initially stated that gender is irrelevant in mushing; for example, in competitions, people of all genders compete directly against one another. As interviews unfolded, participants spoke about how gender norms and stereotypes complicated their experiences and how non-mushers perceive them. Despite depictions of mushing as masculine, participants stated that mushing …


Field Pea Diversity And Its Contribution To Farmers' Livelihoods In Northern Ethiopia, Yirga Gufi, Alemtsehay Tsegay, Morgan Ruelle, Kassa Teka, Sarah Tewolde-Berhan, Alison Power Feb 2022

Field Pea Diversity And Its Contribution To Farmers' Livelihoods In Northern Ethiopia, Yirga Gufi, Alemtsehay Tsegay, Morgan Ruelle, Kassa Teka, Sarah Tewolde-Berhan, Alison Power

Sustainability and Social Justice

Field pea is grown by smallholder farmers in Ethiopia as a source of food, fodder, income, and soil fertility. This study explores intraspecific diversity of field pea and its contribution to farmers' livelihoods in two agroecological zones of South Tigray and South Wollo, northeastern Ethiopia. Interviews were conducted with 168 farming households. The number of varieties and the Shannon Diversity Index (SDI) were higher in South Tigray (seven varieties, 0.35 SDI) than South Wollo (two varieties, 0.025 SDI). Farmers in South Tigray plant field pea during two growing seasons, allowing for integration of multiple varieties into their farming systems. The …


Impact Pathways From Climate Services To Sdg2 (“Zero Hunger”): A Synthesis Of Evidence, James Hansen, Geneva List, Shauna Downs, Edward Carr, Rahel Diro, Walter Baethgen, Andrew Kruczkiewicz, Melody Braun, John Furlow, Kayla Walsh, Nitin Magima Jan 2022

Impact Pathways From Climate Services To Sdg2 (“Zero Hunger”): A Synthesis Of Evidence, James Hansen, Geneva List, Shauna Downs, Edward Carr, Rahel Diro, Walter Baethgen, Andrew Kruczkiewicz, Melody Braun, John Furlow, Kayla Walsh, Nitin Magima

Sustainability and Social Justice

Climate services can help address a range of climate-sensitive development challenges, including agricultural production and food security. However, generating empirical evidence of impact is challenging. In this paper, we synthesize published evidence of pathways by which climate services contribute to improved food security. A summary of key mechanisms by which climate risk drives food insecurity provides a context for understanding potential climate risk management interventions. Our review of available evaluation literature finds moderately strong evidence that climate services contribute to improvements in food security or its precursors through farmers’ risk management decisions and index-based agricultural insurance; and a weaker body …